ro und r
ainbow
As w,:, go to press, Ross "On-Off" Perot is convening hi state
coordinate to mull over what appears to be an all but certain dectsion to
get back into the race for president.
We think J e Jackson should put Ross under the Rainbow a Ross-
Jackson ticket. '
I Yes, we believe that Ro Perot is a facsist, but so. is George Bush. We
now Ros Perot is an opportunist, but so is Bill Clinton. � be is an
egomaniac, but so are all politicians.
� . ub re really intetested in'wbJt the
Afn ear e , •• -
The Dem ranted, t . qn(blic.ans don't
even want-it.
Jackson on the ticket would give African American voters a power
never before aclcno�ledged. It would also give progressives a voice now
unheeded in botb political camps.
'By joining Ross Perot in a movement for change, Jesse Jackson could
also redeem himself in the eyes of tho e Jackson supporters who feel he
has turned his back on independent politics to advance his own career
within the Democratic Party.
Whatever people say or think about Jesse, he remairs the only intelli­
gent, forcdu� voice in the entire country defming the progressive agenda.
The mamage of Perot and Jackson would forge a coalition of disaf­
fected. whites, and in all1ikeliOOod, an overwhelming majority of African
Arnencan voters.
If nothing else, a JacksQp-Perot ticket would let us hold up our heads
when we go to the polls in 'November. It would keep hope alive.
Who's in control?
The voice of the people 11m been silenced in the city halls of this state.
Part of the blame for decay and inaction plaguing the cities has to be
dropped at the feet of the elected officials.
From Detroit, to Muskegon Heights, to Benton Harbor, the elected
leaders are following rather than directing staff. The tail is wagging the
dog. ..
Some examples: .
-In Benton Harbor, despite a cry for housing and jobs, the city
commission has listened -oot to its own constituents- but to the non­
resident quasi-governmental body established by Whirlpool to control
federal grants, the Cornerstone Alliarce. City leaders laid off the city
workers in the Community Development Department am one by one are
haooing those jobs over to the Cornerstone Alliance. The city voted to turn
over almost 100 pieces of city -owned property to a committee of bankers
meeting· under the auspices of the Cornerstone Alliance. These are the
same bankers who red-line on the job, but now control the vacant lots they
helped take off the tax rolls. For these same lots residents are asked to pay
big bucks, while the bankers group got them for one dollar each.
-In Detroit, city staff has selected the neighborhoods they think make
g?od ente��se. zonc:s. In all cases the �ighborhoods have already re­
clev� massive InfUSIOns of grant dollars In construction of upper income
hOUSlOg. The council will hold hearings, and the issue isn't resolved, but
the poor nelghborhoods that need development go unnoticed. .
-In Muskegon Heights, the mayor am city council refused to let
homeowners speak at a recent meeting because the city attorney -who
neither lives nor has his office in the Heights-decided the homeowners
couldn't speak. These are the same homeowners who opened up their new
homes recently to let the Mayor 'bring in visiting mayors. The Mayor
wanted to show off the homes as though it was his investment in the
project. Yet when the homeowners asked to discuss their home develop­
ment project at city hall, the same mayor sat silent and let the attorney
decide they couldn't speak.
Too often, the elected leaders lose sight of who is the real boss-the
people. Once elected, the leadership gets intimidated by the better educated
staff and instead of listening to the people, they tum for guidance to staff.
In some cases, city leaders are merely rubber stamping decisions staff
makes.
Electing Black leaders isn't enough, if non-residents take our money
only to tel] us what they want done. The public has to keep remiooing tbose
leaders that the people are the bo s. Staff is to be directed what to do, not
asked what do we do.
Though taff may be better educated, they don't govern. Their job is
not to make decisions, but to find the way to carry out decislons of the
elected leadership.
Hi en nd won't rule when the public voice is heeded. Staff are
too of more concerned with their own salaries, resumes, am in some
ceses, we fear, money under the table than they are with promoting the
common good.
Let' demand that our leadership make straight the crooked paths.
Listen to the people.
I
VIEWS, OPINIONS
I I
primary for th Se te,
Braun' n me ha become
household word in nearly every city
and town in Illinoi. In church
aero th tate th re are praye
publicly articulating the need 0 elect
om on li e Braun to the Sena .
Yet, her tandin g furth 1 than
Illinoi . Th re are perso ho DOW
By NORMAN � DUEWEKE
After watching most of the
Republican National Convention
this past week in Houston, I now
remember why J can't stand the
Republican Party.
It is the party of exclusivity, in­
tolerance, bigotry, mendacity, and
hypocrisy. Its supporters are the
cognoscenti, those cultural pedantic
who Claim superior knowledge and
sole possesion of morals and values,
wron
L ben
. trea d by Se te,
e dcc' ion 0 "change"
teo
Br un prob bly ould be
co idered to be mode te in rms
of the political pectrum. Yet, her
c mp ign i helpin to ignite
revolution involving millio of
women who increa ingly will
challenge i titutionalized exi min
t political and economic y tems.
As we move clo er to election day
1992 in ovember, caution t be
n not to overproject upport for
Braun. It might be closer election
tbanw t the pol may y. Forthis
y
I
tho e who buff and shine their own
gold-leaf conduits to God.
It continue to be the echelon of
the elite, flailing around at the
abstractions of life rather than com­
ing to grip with its concrete -its
troubles and turmoil .
MYWIF U UALLYcalmex­
cept when she yells at me to pitch my
sweat ocks into the hamper-had to
be repeatedly restrained twice ready
to bullseye the remote at the mugs of
Pat & Pat a they e coriated
homo exuals and other Lum­
penproletariat.
Peace now rule once again: the
Si mpsons , Murphy B., Mary Tyler
Moore reruns, and the truthfulne of
life fictive TV depicts it, not as the
elephant elect do in Houston. Ah,
sweet peace. The remote rests.
In e ence, what the GOP con­
vention m� age depicted was cyni-
Lester's World@1992
YO' HOMEY,
LIKE A ...
GET DOW
-: Wl
G.O.P�
YEAH YOU
KNOW ME.
l'OI'UllC:llT ",. II':." IJ 11:"
All .• 11':1111 it "'':11 \11'.11
. ,.'�tcrr:�ItYEAH' GEORGE, UNFORTUNATELY WE DO."
-: .. /""
II
ver aqaln"
When millions of Jews, gypsies
and other assorted untermenschen
(German for "subhumans") were
herded into Europe's concentration
camps for slaughter, the Western
world, man's so-called
"civilization," stood by in almo t
blithe indifference, until the
Hitlerian task, of making Europe
, judenrein ("cleansed of Jews" in
German) was nearly two-thirds
completed.
The resulting Holocaust of most
of the world's Jewry left a world in
shock at its depth of evil, and
spawned the growth of the world'
human rights movement, moving
Jew and Gentile alike to ayingin elt
unison, "Never Again."
It is 1992, and 50 years have
passed since the ovens of
Bergen-Belsen smothered scores of
Jews.
In the region of Bo nia, Eastern
Europe, concentration camp are
once again filled with thousands of
. suffering humans, thelr gaunt,
starving, skeletal forms macabre
mirror-image of the living dead of
Dachau and Treblinka.
IN BO IA tales of mass
murders, gang rapes, systematic
starvation emerge, part of a depraved
political program of Serbian militias
to make the area "ethnically
cleansed."
In an ironic twist of hi tory the
victim are now, not Jews, but
Muslim, ethnically brethren of the
Serbs who dog them, descendants of
ttie ancient 'Ottoman Empire, which
subdued the Balkans, in 1453,
bringing it under I lamic dominance.
There is a familiar ring in terms,
"junerein," and "ethnic cleansing,"
the arne racist tendency separated
by languages and balf a century in
time.
Again
After the Muslims of Bosnia are
eliminated, will we once again hear
the pledge, "Never Again?"
When the Bosnian-Serbian
region was incorporated into the
now-defunct state of Yugoslavia,
inter-ethnic and regional conflicts
were sublimated in favor of the
larger entity, the state, or crushed
under the iron fist of Marshal Tito,
an anti-Nazi partisan, who took
power under the Communist Party
and established the nation- tate in
1945.
IN 1980, Tito died, and in 1991,
the Soviet Union died. Nominally a
member of the Soviet orbit,
Yugoslavia wa largely
independent, trading with the U.S.
and Bri tain for year while
COMECON crumbled.
Today, Yugoslavia is no more,
and centuries of religious, class and
".umic" hatreds fuel the Balkan race
re on it ill be crucial th t
m ve t-ou -tbe-vo camp' gn
be organized in every ection of
lllino' .
The 1992 electio on the te
d federalleve ill determine the
immedi te future cou e of the
tion. All electio are important,
b t the upcoming election are
vie �ed the most important in th I t
20 y . Th re i real choice in the
election. There are real candidat ,
me f hom like Carol Braun,
have a vi ion and a of mi ion
for the future that will help bring our
nation tog ther.
Ye , there i a chan �ming in
the United S�t �ClJ8te and it .
coming in the person of Carol
M eley Braun.
cal and Irrelevant either/or messages .
somehow clo ked around a guilt trip
of "family values"-the fuzzy buzz
expre ion of the 1992 campaign.
Willy Horton. has been replaced by
fuzz and buzz.
- Hilary Cllnton I immoral for
pursuing a career outside the home.
Bill is immoral for letting her. To
GOPers, both have failed as
wife/mother, husband/father.
- Marilyn Quayle' moral for
giving up a law career to stay home
to bake cookies for Dan and the
brood. Wealthy homemaker. Weal­
thy cheerleader. She has been suc­
cessful in her lifestyle. She pits
feminist against housewife.
ttr: J3�ara_ B� close the
U. t f. hU'C-
neither. Women, she said, cap dp
either. Barbara is fully family
valued and hoity-toity by ocia­
tion.
- Pat & Pat? Kings of the eon­
gnoscenti.
- George & Dan? Servants of
the cognoscenti.
BUT READ MY lip's: "It is they­
the Repubs-whose 12-year record
belies them as underminers and
des troyers of the American famil y."
The actual Reagan/Bush record is
indeed a dismal one.
- A society that values families
has its adult members pay taxes. But
George Bush hardly paid his fair
share.
- A ociety that values families
needs good housing to hold them.
But Bush's upsidedown housing
policies punish middle to lower clas­
ses seeking houses while they heap
rewards on the rich.
- A society that values families
helps one-parent households. But
Bush pursues welfare reform based
on "punitive incentives."
- A society that values families.
helps promote a good sense of com­
munity where people of all economic
levels are its focus. But Bush's
policies continue to increase hunger
and homelessness. Just recently 14
See BARFABLE, A10
MUMIA
ABU
JAMAL
FROM
DEATH
ROW
into barbarity.
Concentration camps, "ethnic
cleansing," liquidation campaigns
all reveal how little humans have
changed in a half century.
The German-born American
philospher, Hannah Arendt, a
spectator of the infamous Nazi War
Crimes Trial, aid he was struck by
"the banality of evil."
Fi ve decade la ter, the ame
fiendish passions from the bubbling
cauldron of hatreds boiling in the
human bre t, reveal how trul y banal
such hate remains. For even in the
darkest hours of 20th Century
humanity, never, never means never.